UPDATE: The winner is…Eileen McCall!
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Saturday will be National Dog Day! Woohoo! We love our furry friends, don’t we? I’m sharing a picture of one of our EIGHT dogs above. She’s Judy the Sheltie. The picture was taken last winter when we got some very rare snow.

So, here’s what we’re going to do to celebrate this special day….

Send a picture of your dog (or your mom’s, or kids’) to me at delilah@delilahdevlin.com. I’m going to re-post them on Saturday, so you can share the love. If you like, tell me their name and, if you want, a little bit about them (you don’t have to!). I’ll post it all. If you send me a photo, leave a comment below to let me know to be on the lookout. One dog-lover will get a $5 Amazon gift card.

I own several tarot and spiritual decks of cards. Most of them I don’t know well enough to read without referring a lot to the books accompanying them. I know it’s a matter of familiarization, of using them, and committing to memory the meanings of the images. The Mythic Tarot deck is my oldest, and the book’s spine needs to be re-glued. It appeals to me most because I’ve always loved mythology, especially Greek, Sumerian, Norse, and Egyptian. I know the Greek stories better than any other mythologies because of my 3rd-grade teacher.

Our reading books were progressive pamphlets that you worked at mastering one volume at a time. I flew through them weeks before the rest of the class finished. She had a personal copy of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes on her desk and would hand it to me when the others began their daily work with the readers. The stories were written for adults, in adult language, so I kept a dictionary at hand, which I didn’t refer to all that much as I read.

Tarot and divination have always fascinated me. I have dabbled with it over the years. I don’t believe or disbelieve, but I do think the cards help me reveal my own mind and inclinations. So, enough about why I love my Sunday “drawing the card” ritual. Let’s get to today’s card…

Before I open the book, I know this is Jason of “Jason and the Argonauts” fame—you know, the guy who stole the Golden Fleece. Jason’s story is really cool. He was the son of King Aeson, but he was stillborn, so his father sent him to Chiron the Centaur to be raised. (It doesn’t have to make sense. 🙂 ) Anyways, when Jason reached adulthood, he returned to his kingdon, but his uncle had usurped the throne from his father and didn’t want Jason around causing problems. So, he sent him on an impossible mission—to steal the Golden Fleece from another king.

Jason didn’t argue. He accepted the mission then gathered friends to accompany him on his journey. Here in the picture, you see the twins, the guy in the lion skin, Orpheus with his instrument, and another king friendlier to his cause. They are carrying torches (the wands) and are celebrating the fact that his ship, the Argo, has been completed. He’s ready to begin his journey.

What does the card mean to me? He’s accomplished a lot, gathered his support, built the vehicle he needs to continue. This moment is one to celebrate. So, I’ve completed a set of edits, and am deep into two other sets of edits, plus I’m a third of the way through my next book. It’s time to pause today to celebrate my accomplishments, but also to get ready to plunge back into the “mission.”

Now, I’ll check the book: The four of Wands “augurs a time of reward for efforts made. A creative idea has yielded early fruit, and the individual has every right to celebrate…” Woot, so I will. Today only.

Open Contests

1. Flashback: Strokes, Vol. 2 (Contest–Two Winners!) — This one ends soon! Win a FREE book—two winners!
2. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: What’s he doing here? — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Story Cubes: Tell me a story… (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Meet Carleen Crossley from HARD KNOX! (Contest & Snippet) — Win a FREE book!
5. Hollywood Heartthrobs (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. Saturday Puzzle-Contest–What is happening here? — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Deb Brown!
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Today, I searched for an image for the puzzle on my favorite photo site by just typing in the word “romance.” This odd photo popped up in the top row, and I thought how fun would it be for you all to tell me what you think is happening here.

So, solve the puzzle and tell me what’s goin’ on for a chance to win a $5 Amazon GC!

UPDATE: The winner is…Debra Guyette!
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My thirst for hunky heroes goes waaaayyyy back. I am of a certain (*cough*) age, so my tastes were formed by what I watched mostly on TV or saw in magazines when I was still a kid. I didn’t understand my fascination, but that didn’t stop my fantasy life being filled with hot starship captains and spies who rode to the rescue to aid me (never save me, because even then I liked fighting, too!).

The hero who first filled my fantasies was Russian secret agent Illya Kuryakin from The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964 to 1968), played by David McCallum. You might know him as “Ducky” in NCIS these days. He was my one and only blond heartthrob.

Then a sci-fi show caught my attention—Lost in Space (1965 to 1968). But it wasn’t the young, single Don West who caught my eye, it was the sexy dad, John Robinson, played by Guy Williams, that I imagined was the single one and an in need of a little alien companionship. I imagined myself as the green alien woman who pursued Dr. Smith, only I captured John Robinson.

 

Both of those heroes paled in comparison to my next obsession—James T. Kirk from the original Star Trek (1966 to 1969). He was…everything. Handsome, in charge, witty, funny—and that smirk! And again, they’re in space—the final frontier! To this day, I love the character, and yes, Chris Pine inhabits it very, very well.

I had brief crushes on some other hotties from the time.

Have you ever seen the old WWII flick, The Great Escape (1963)?

Yes, Steve McQueen was hot. Motorcycles are hotter. Blah-blah. But it wasn’t McQueen’s “Cooler King” that caught my eye. It was Charles Bronson’s “Tunnel King” I was riveted to. Am I right?

This guy, even though back then I wasn’t allowed to watch his movies for some reason, was all over the magazines. I thought he was pretty damn hot, too.

I guess I’ve always like smolder. 🙂

These days, I’m enamored with another starship captain—Captain Pike, as played by Anson Mount in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. He’s funny, sexy, a great cook, empathetic, and brave. If you haven’t watched the series, or haven’t loved Star Trek before, he might change your mind.

So, my question to you is who were your earliest heartthrobs? Answer for a chance to win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Steph!
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On September 12th, the next book in my new We Are Dead Horse, MT, series, Hard Knox, releases! So, I thought it was time for you to meet my main characters. I’ve included a snippet below for you! In the opening, we’re treated to a bit of Carleen Crossley’s mindset. She’s a woman on a mission to capture the one man she can’t have: Knox Ramsey. Carleen has no inhibitions or shame when it comes to her pursuit, much to the town’s enjoyment.

If you’ve read the books in the Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT, you’ve seen Carleen in some of the later stories in the series. Plus, she appears in Book #1 of the new series, Cold Hard Cash. Let’s just say, Carleen knows how to make an impression.

Meet Carleen…

Knox Ramsey was a man most folks in Dead Horse, Montana, shied away from. His tall, burly frame was imposing enough. Add the dark eyebrows that seemed perpetually lowered over his nearly black, piercing eyes and his huge, meaty fists, and he made most folks shiver with dread whenever his gaze swung their way.

However, Carleen Crossley wasn’t “most folks.” When she looked at Knox, she shivered the same as anyone, but for a very different reason. To her, Knox was The One.

She’d known it since she was a teenager, working after school to earn money for her cheerleading outfits. Knox hadn’t been the one to hire her—his mother, Dorothea Ramsey, had for no other reason than to annoy her son. Plus, she’d placed Carleen in the front office, doing little tasks that didn’t really need doing in a rough and tumble place like the Ride or Die Body and Repair Shop—like filing (who needed paperwork unless you wanted the grease-grimed fingerprints for a forensics audit), janitorial work (again, years’ worth of engine oil and grease couldn’t be wiped away with a little or a lot of degreasers), and making coffee (she had never mastered making the sludge Knox thought of as an actual beverage).

Even when she’d been sixteen, she’d recognized his appeal by the way her ovaries cramped in his presence. As she’d grown older, she’d noted other “proof,” like how her nipples beaded hard and her cheeks and groin got hot just being in his presence. She could feel him the moment he came into her vicinity. The air hummed with electricity. Her sex gave her warning, too, instantly softening and getting wet. When she turned and met that black gaze, her heart would stutter and then pound. Whatever she was doing, whatever thought was flitting through her mind, ground to a halt as she took him in. Looking at him was like downing a shot of whiskey—bracing and exhilarating.

Knox, with his deadly glare and biker’s windswept hair, was a bad boy through and through. And she had a mighty thirst for the biggest, baddest boy in Dead Horse, Montana.

Too bad the man didn’t feel the same way about her. After years of flaunting her body and seeking ways to slide up against him to tempt him, he still managed to deflect her affections.

Not that Carleen was ready to give up…

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If you haven’t already pre-ordered your copy—here’s the link: Hard Knox

Contest

For a chance to win your choice of story in the Montana Bounty Hunters series or a copy of Cold Hard Cash, let me know if you’ve read any of the stories, and if you have, which was your favorite?

I’m on a few Facebook reader groups. I’m also a user of the Tiktok books tag, #Booktok. At regular intervals I see someone post the plea “I’m way behind on my reading goals. What are some SHORT books?” or “I have a three-hour road trip this week. What’s a short audiobook you recommend?” or even “My teen struggles to concentrate over the length of whole long novel. What are some SHORT books?”

While some readers take pride in their ability to conquer a massive tome like The Plains of Passage by Jean Auel (335,000 words) or A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (591,000 words!) many of us at least occasionally prefer a light meal over a feast. No matter what your preferred genre or category, below are some short reads to help you fill a few hours or catch up on your reading challenge goals.

Literary Fiction

Small Things Like These by Clair Keegan (c. 20,000 words/about 2 hours in audio), an intimate, but rather delicate peek at the dark history of the Magdalene Laundries for unwed mothers in Ireland. Affecting, frustrating, but an excellent pick to those who are dipping their feet into literary fiction from other more accessible genres.

Science Fiction

Who else? Murderbot! The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells starts with four novellas, each about 30,000 to 40,000 words long (3-4 hours in audio). What can I say about Murderbot that hasn’t already been said? These page turny novellas are funny, poignant, scary, thoughtful, queer as f**k and neurodivergent all day. READ THEM.

Fantasy

The publisher of Murderbot, Tor Books, is a leader in speculative novellas and that includes a bunch of great fantasy ones. I’m a fan of A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djèlí Clark, which like a lot of Tor novellas is part of a series that includes both novellas and full-length novels. This one is a gripping murder mystery set against the rich and detailed world of early 20^th century Cairo.

Romance

Romance is something of a leader in short reads, due to the preponderance of indie authors publishing eBooks and thus unfettered by such pedantic things as minimum page counts. I’m partial to our very own Delilah Devlin’s Once in a Blue Moon, but you will also find short and spicy offerings from Bibi Rizer, Delphine Dryden or Courtney Milan,  and others, many of them tastes of longer series.

Historical

If serious (but short) historical tales are your thing, why not try a novel in verse. Novels in verse, written as they are in the form of poetry, pack a lot of meaning into fewer words and there are several that explore the historical periods often covered by fiction authors, but in a new way. A few examples are: Audacity by Melanie Crowder (30,000 words), a story of Clara Lemlich and her struggle for women’s labor rights in early twentieth-century New York; Margarita Engle’s The Lightning Dreamer (11,000 words), which examines the slavery abolition movement in 19^th Century Cuba, and Blood Water Paint (29,000 words) by Joy McCulloch which is based on the true story of the iconic painter, Artemisia Gentileschi.

Murder mysteries

Murder mysteries are famous for being long and dense (cough Robert Galbraith cough) but if you want something shorter, and you don’t mind a speculative element, try John Scalzi’s fun novella series The Dispatcher. The, story of a kind of hired killer, who prevents people from dying, except when he doesn’t, these are particularly great in audio, narrated by Star Trek actor Zachary Quinto.

Children and teens

When it comes to kids, there are many places to look for short reads. The novels in verse mentioned above are all aimed at teens as are many contemporary novels in verse such as my own Audacious and Capricious. Graphic novels for kids and teens are hugely popular, and they’re not all superheroes (not that superheroes are bad!). Heartstopper by Alice Oseman is a sweet gay romance series, Smile by Raina Telgemeier is a funny and poignant coming of age memoir, and there are graphic versions of popular or classic novels such as the charming and faithful adaptation of Lucy Maude Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables adapted by Mariah Marsden and Brenna Thummler.

Finally there are short novels designed especially for reluctant or struggling readers. One of my publishers, Orca Book Publishers, puts out a dozen a year. My recent trilogy The Faerie Woods is one, with three books of about 15,000 words each.

If you’re behind on your reading, just getting started with reading, struggling to concentrate on reader (who isn’t these days?) short books can help you get back on track. I hope the above suggestions will give you some ideas and provide you with just a few hours of enjoyment.

About the Author

G.S. (Gabrielle) Prendergast is the bestselling author of numerous books for children and teens. She studied writing at the University of New South Wales in Australia, at San Francisco State University and the University of British Columbia. After years of working in the music industry, in social welfare, and the film industry, Gabrielle began writing books when she became a mother, so she could work from home. Her books have received nominations for the White Pine Award, the Canadian Library Association Award, the Vancouver Book Prize and several other honors. She won the BC Book Prize for her YA sci-fi Zero Repeat Forever and the Westchester Award for her YA novel in verse Audacious. Born in the UK and both an Australian and New Zealand citizen, Gabrielle now lives in East Vancouver in a permanent state of  “under-construction”.

The winner is…Kerry Pruett!
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I bought this little brainstorming tool years ago at some writers’ conference. “Story Cubes” is a brainstorming game. You roll the dice and whatever pictures appear face-up are the ones you use to riff off a story.

Now, I’d like you to tell me a story based on what you see on the cubes. Do any of these symbols tell you anything? You can pick some of the images or use all of them.

Have fun with this! Don’t overthink! Here’s the roll… 

To make this fun, I’ll offer a prize—a $5 Amazon gift card—good for purchasing one or two stories…